The Dos and Don’ts of Using Instagram to Market Your Private Practice
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When it comes to marketing private practice on social media, I’ve got LOADS of experience in regards of what NOT to do. And at the same time, many of you have requested I do a video on how to use social media to market your private practice. So I enlisted the help of an expert to make it happen for this week’s video. Today I go over the dos and don’ts of using Instagram to market your private practice.
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This video is geared for therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.
Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.
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This video is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.
A huge THANK YOU to Dr. Therese in being a major help with this video.
Okay so first thing’s first: Can social media be an effective strategy for marketing private practice?
Absolutely! According to Hootsuite, Instagram has over 1 billion active monthly users, with over 500 million users on the app every day!
With that said, there are many ways for all of us to connect with the people logging in to Instagram, but there are some Do’s and Don’ts for how to do this successfully.
So let’s talk about how to use instagram effectively:
If your goal is to reach potential clients, it’s so important that you know who you are and what sets you apart from all the other therapists using instagram to market their practice.
This is what branding is all about. If you’d like to learn more, Dr. Therese is launching a course called “DIY Your Brand in 30 Days”. I’ve included a link in the description box for you to sign up for updates.
Use Hashtags relevant to your niche. Yep, those 30 hashtags at the bottom of each post are a huge way that others can find you on instagram. I love this example Dr. Therese gave: “Think of hashtags as if each hashtag is a different party - each with a unique venue, theme, and guest list. If you use hashtags that are relevant to your audience, it's like going to parties filled with people who are looking for what you have to offer. For example, if you're a CBT therapist looking to meet potential clients, you might use hashtags like #CBTtherapist #cognitivebehavioraltherapy #anxietyhelp #mentalhealthmatters #stressed, etc. When your potential clients look up these hashtags, if things go well, they will see your posts, find your page, and follow you!” How great is that? So be sure to do a little work on the front end to find some hashtags that represent you well.
Engage with similar accounts. Find accounts that are similar to yours. Follow them and share genuine engagements with their posts.
Engaging is more than liking their post or leaving an emoji in the comments. Be thoughtful and share a human-to-human interaction in their comments. This helps people find you and share your account with others.
With everything I said about how helpful instagram can be for building your practice, it can also become a total waste of time if not done well. Here are some things to avoid on instagram:
Heartless likes. Don’t focus all your time liking others’ posts in the hopes that you’ll be discovered. Make sure you are sharing genuine engagement with each other.
Regurgitating Content. Avoid exclusively sharing others’ content through reposts or quotes from others. People want to see YOU - pictures of you, your thoughts, your values. Make sure your account is clearly you. It’s okay to share some quotes from others periodically, but you want your unique self to shine on your account more than anything else.
As I’ve built my brand with Private Practice Skills I’ve found Dr. Therese’s tips to be incredibly helpful to my own growth on Instagram. I’m definitely still learning, but I think that’s the beauty of the process!